Kristin S, I agree, the Ankarsrum (aka DLX/Electrolux) isn't something one buys on a whim! It will last, and most cooks pass theirs down to daughters and sons... I've a friend who dearly loves her KA and wouldn't trade it for anything... Re: the issues you mentioned with your KA, here's a photo I found after my first unboxing of the Ankarsrum... kinda shows you the inside and the most commonly used attachments (2) I use for mixing breads, brownies, and cookie dough's. This shows the 'roller' and 'scraper' attachment: You can move the roller away from the bowl side and fix it to any distance from the bowl side and tighten that setting easily, but the roller will still move outward into the bowl's middle freely on it's own helping to mix/incorporate. Sometimes, if there's a little something (and it's always precious little) in the middle that's not mixing, I just manually move the roller (holding the chrome arm on top) over to the middle, then let it go, so it moves back. It's a bit odd initially, using something called a 'roller' to mix ingredients... but it does an amazing job incorporating unbeaten eggs, sugar, flour, extracts, raisins and choc chips (without crushing - no more hand mixing chips and raisin!), anything, really. The bowl rotates constantly at the speed setting of your choice, it never stops unless you turn it off. I add ingredients as it's moving, and flours never puff out, or get on anything... easy cleanup, too! You've lots of open room to add ingredients even from large bowls. I always make sure my butter or cream cheese is super soft (for the roller and especially the whisks and cake whisk attachments. There is no lifting of anything... not until your batter/dough is mixed. You un-tighten the roller arm, it moves out of the way on it's own, and you lift the bowl out. You can see the scraper is naturally sitting against the side of the bowl. The scraper gets "everything" and I rarely move it unless there's a bit of unmixed floor or ingredient on the scraper, at which point I just move it gently out toward the middle of the bowl, then let it naturally go back to the bowl side. Now, if you need to whip egg whites first, you'd instead use the clear bowl and use the whipping attachment instead. If you are making a thin batch of cookie dough or a cake that's thinner, again, you'd use the clear bowl but with the cake whisks. The clear bowl does not turn on it's own, it stays stationary while the whisks move. Here's a photo of the dials.. One changes speed (variable so any speed, plus the high speed is well, very high! It's not got labels, so you basically just go by how it feels and looks to you. The other turns it on, and if you turn it past the 'on' it acts as a timer as well... you can walk away if you need to and it will shut itself off. Another nice thing is the scraper, a simple plastic spatula that fits into the grooves of the 'roller', making batter scraping so easy! Weight: it's no lightweight at 19 lbs, but I think the KA weighs in at 25-29 lbs. Height: I've got 18" between counter top and cabinets... easy fit. Noise: You can hear it, but it runs on a belt drive... it's much quieter than any mixer I've used. I ordered mine from Pleasant Hill Grain, and after it arrived they sent me an email with a .pdf to print out explaining attachments to use, speed control conversions, etc. So, yes, a learning curve, but it's not a huge learning curve : ) There are a multitude of attachments also, but you turn the Ankarsrum on it's side to use most of them. I think the KA is great for many people, but has drawbacks. The primary drawback of the Ankarsrum is the price, IMO.

Easy off with gloves will probably work okay, though be aware that lye, the active ingredient, can discolor and dull aluminum and stainless steel and can also make cheaply painted surfaces come off on your scrubber. But if the thing is already covered with goo you probably will improve it with the cleaning. Watch the fumes and wear gloves when working with Easyoff. Just warming the surface up a bit, turning off the heat and then letting the foam sit on the grease for an hour or so will loosen up a lot of cooked-on mess. The lye combines with the fat and makes, ala Fight Club, soap. Follow directions on the can and be sure to test a little on a small area before charging ahead, unless you just don't care, that is, and want it clean no matter what.

Various thoughts: I'm just too practical ever to sell a perfectly good Kitchen Aid mixer just because I'm using new colors. Don't choose based upon glass bowl vs. metal bowl. You can buy additional bowls -- they're not cheap, but they're also not terribly expensive. You'll probably want to add accessories to your Kitchen Aid as time passes anyway. If you go with a white kitchen, I think either one will look great. ALL kitchens look better in gussied-up magazine pictures. They take the picture when the kitchen is perfectly clean, in the best possible light, showing an unlikely amount of empty counterspace, and lovely-but-impractical things out as accessories (really, when did a lovely glass dish of lemons -- and nothing else -- ever grace your kitchen counters?). When you remodel, are you sure you'll want to leave the Kitchen Aid out on the counter, or will you choose to place it on a pop-up and keep it tucked away in the cabinets?

I used a garden sprayer fully pumped with Wet and Forget to try and prevent more mildew/gunk from forming there. However, it was only able to penetrate and remove only the very top most part. I think a stiff thin sheet of paper might work, but am hesitant to try because I was using that method to clean somewhere else and the paper tore a piece off after becoming damp. Luckily it could not be seen like it would be should that happen while trying to clean the window. The power washing was done before I moved in, getting the house ready for sale I presume. Had I contracted the job, they would not have been paid until that was corrected.